Caucasian Knot | Protesters in Yerevan demand to free Professor Charchyan

More than 500 medical workers have signed a letter demanding to change the freedom restraint measure of Professor Armen Charchyan, the director of the "Izmirlyan" Medical Centre, who is accused of pressing voters before the early parliamentary elections in Armenia. Charchyan himself treats his criminal case as political persecution, said his advocate.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that the Nikol Pashinyan’s “Civil Contract” Party gained 53.92 percent of the votes at the early parliamentary elections held in Armenia on June 20. The “Hayastan” (Armenia) bloc, considered the closest rival of the current authorities and led by Robert Kocharyan, the second president of Armenia, gained 21.04 percent of the votes.

Armen Charchyan was detained on June 18, but the court refused to arrest him. However, on June 23, the court granted the investigators' motion to arrest Armen Charchyan.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed at the Special Investigating Service (SIS) of Armenia that Professor Charchyan had forced the staff of his medical centre to take part in the early parliamentary elections and vote "against the current authorities." "Charchyan threatened that whoever fails to fulfil his demand deserves a tough attitude," the SIS has added.

On June 25, medics from different medical centres went to the building of the Armenian General Prosecutor's Office (GPO), where they handed their open letter to Arthur Davtyan, the Public Prosecutor General. The letter demanding to release Armen Charchyan was signed by 539 medical professionals. Then they went to governmental buildings and the presidential residence, as well as to the buildings of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and the Ministry of Public Health (MPH) of Armenia, where they handed over letters addressed to the Acting Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, President, Armen Sargsyan, and Minister of Justice, Rustam Badasyan.

"Every day, a long queue is lined up at Professor Charchyan's office; and all the patients want to be operated on by him. We assure that, as soon as necessary, Professor Charchyan will come to the investigator and will not hamper the investigation," said one of the participants of the action, a teacher at the Yerevan Medical University.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on at 08:25 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.